The Lost Trove of the Desert Kings
by F.J. Stellar
Summary: Using the legendary Ocarina, Tetra, Link, and the rest of the crew journey back to Ancient Hyrule to steal Ganondorf's long lost treasure. Ch.9 is up: some romantic action between Link & Tetra!
1. L i n k

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Author's Note: This is an unusual Wind Waker sequel. It merges with the story line of OoT. Ten years have past and Link and Tetra still haven't found the new land and have parted ways. The PoV is told in first person by several different characters—mainly Link and Tetra. It changes from chapter to chapter, but you can always tell who is telling the story by the chapter title.

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This is potentially a Link/Tetra romance, but only if you guys think I should take the story in that direction. If or if not, please let me know in the **reviews**.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zelda. Shocker, I know.

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THE LOST TROVE OF THE DESERT KINGS

.. By F. J. Stellar..

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[Link]

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Tetra found the ocarina seventy-seven knots south of Outset in a secluded scattering of islands called the Jungle Archipelago. That much is true, or I'm willing believe it is, but I knew from the start that the rest of her tale was a fabricated sham. Only Tetra could summon the nerve to look me square in the eye and tell me it was fate that led her to the Ocarina of Time, not her own insatiable greed.

But I came with her anyway on that crazy treasure hunt through time. It wasn't the loot I was after. Tetra had dangled the notion of revenge over my head and, eager and unwarned, I had leapt at the chance like a puppy leaping for a tainted treat. I was going to steal what mattered most to Ganondorf like he had stole Aryll and my childhood.

At least, that was the plan.

But now we're here, centuries from home and trapped in a colossal, desert shrine. This is the end; I can taste it in the heavy, dead air. But I'm not sure how long the wait will drag on. The crew, Tetra, and I are sitting here in the dark, silent and contemplating our ends, when I start to contemplate the beginning. How did we get infixed into this unfixable jam? At what point could we no longer return home; at what point did we seal our fate?

It's best that I start at the beginning, but even pinpointing that is difficult. I could say it started with the Hero of Time and Ganondorf but that means a confusing loop of time, which just makes my head spin. I could say it began when the Helmaroc King kidnapped Aryll but that story has been told a thousand times over. Frankly, I'm sick of it. Really it began when Tetra stole the ocarina, but I wasn't there and her rendition of it is a tangle of lies that even now she refuses to straighten out.

So I'll begin when Tetra first came to me with the ocarina and a plan. It was a bleak Tuesday morning and the sun hadn't yet risen high enough to burn off the fog around the cabana. Everything beyond my porch steps was shrouded from sight by the thick blanket. If I had looked, which I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to see her ship moored off my island.

I was starring at the ceiling when she knocked, but I was seeing Molgera's thrashing, vermin spawn bursting through the sand. I was seeing a Stalfo's head whirl on the ground while its body swung a club at me. A black hand reached out of a black pool and dragged Makar in. Keese took turns making dives at me as Puppet Ganon's tail slammed repeatedly against the wall. And Ganondorf roared from above, "_Link? Link, I know you're in there! Open the door for Din's sake_!"

I blinked out of my half sleep. That was a new one. Ganondorf usually had something a little more ominous to say.

"Link! Open up!" called a voice called from outside, apparently the same person who was pounding loudly at my door at this ungodly-hour. If I had any neighbors they would have been severely ticked. Tousled, bleary-eyed, and not bothering to put on a shirt, I shuffled to the door and when I swung it open there stood Captain Tetra, absolutely furious.

"Hey Tetra," I mumbled with a sleepy smile.

"Where were you? I've been knocking forever!" The sea captain was disheveled with impatience; her white-blonde hair was working its way out a raggedy twist.

"Downstairs," I lied, leaning against the doorframe and yawning. "Setting up a few rat traps."

If Tetra didn't believe me, she didn't let it on. "Well, I'm sorry for disrupting such a crucial task, but can I come in."

"I'll have to ask the rats. They might get offended."

Tetra tried to suppress a smile. "I'm sure they'll thank me. Now can I come in?"

I blocked her way. Squeezing my eyes shut, I began to rub my temple with my forefingers. "I'm thinking…I'm thinking of a word…a magic word…"

"_Please_," she laughed. "_Please_, may I come in?"

"Bingo. You got it." I moved aside and allowed the sea captain entrance. Tetra gave me a playful chuck on the shoulder—for being a twerp, she told me—as she swept past.

I watched Tetra shrug off her coat as I snapped the door close. Goddesses! During our previous meetings, which had been rare the past few years, we either ended up having a fierce screaming-match or locking lips—sometimes both. I hoped it would be the latter this time. Despite everything, she was still the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on. She was slim as a boy, her legs long and shapely. Tetra's face was angular and tanned and her eyes were blue and piercing. Ten years had past since I had first laid eyes on Captain Tetra, but I was still twelve when I looked at her.

Ever since she found out that she was royalty, Tetra has had this habit of flipping her hair over one shoulder and turning up her nose in a snobbish, regal fashion whenever she sees the inside of the cabana. She continually harped on me to tidy up. I could see her point this time. Dirty clothes were strewn across the rug and chairs were turned over. Yesterday's lunch was still on the counter, half eaten, next to empty bottles. A broken mirror was propped up in the corner.

I had lived alone at the cabana for years now. And when you live alone, well, you tend to let some things slip. Of course, that was hardly an excuse for the sorry state the cabana was in.

"Not expecting company, I see."

I frowned. "Did you come here for a specific reason or just to insult my housekeeping?"

Tetra turned around and gave me a thoughtful look, as if she was deciding exactly how to weigh her words. "Niko rowed me in from the ship, but I've made him wait down at the shore with the longboat. I have something to discuss with you…privately."

"Let me guess: You're going to give up pirating and marry me?" I hope she knew I wasn't serious.

"No, but I do have something of a… _proposition_ for you. I've found something _extraordinary_. " Tetra strode over to the table and cleared it of clutter with a swipe of her arm. She set down her bag and began to root through it and when she finally found what she was looking for, she pulled back the gaudy wrappings and grinned. It looked like a kargorok egg with finger holes; it was deep purple and caught the light with a strange gleam. The Triforce symbol was marked near the spout embossed in a band of gold.

It took me a moment to realize just exactly what this new trinket of hers was.

"It's the…" she began.

"_Ocarina of Time_," I finished.

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Like it? Don't like it? Think it's absolute trash? Or just confused? Please let me know in the **REVIEWS!**

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Thanks for your time!


	2. T e t r a

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Author's Note: Thank-you all for the encouraging reviews!

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Disclaimer: I do not own Zelda. Shocker, I know.

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[Tetra]

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Link acts like it's entirely my fault that we are in this mess, but he can take a share of the blame too. Even aside from bungling up my plans, he decided to come along which alone makes him equally party to any guilt. I didn't force him to come…I simply persuaded him.

And it wasn't like he was doing anything so wonderful when I arrived with the ocarina. The way he gets on you'd think I tore him away from a family and a career. Hardly! He had been lounging around that lonely cabana ever since he gave up on the search for the new kingdom. After spending a year wandering through monster-infested dungeons and then another year of endless sailing, Link figured he had exerted himself enough for lifetime. And it's my personal belief that his tormented solitude would have ultimately driven him insane had I not intervened.

"So you're going to sell it, right?" he asked me of the ocarina while he busied himself making a pot of tea.

Typical Link, not using his imagination. "There are other ways that this thing can turn a profit," I told him. I righted one of the over-turned chairs and took a seat near the large bay window.

I watched him, waiting for his reaction, but then I found myself comparing the man of twenty-two who stood before me to the boy I had taken aboard my ship ten years ago. Even though his shoulders had broadened and his arms had thickened, Link's form had not lost its lithe agility and his face still had that mischievous, almost-elfin quality about it. His golden hair was as unruly as ever and he still had the habit of flattening it nervously when he was unsure of himself. Despite how much he had changed, to me he was still every bit the same.

He said nothing for a moment, apparently thinking over what I had just said. He searched for mugs that were clean enough to use. It dawned on him, finally. "Use it, you mean?"

I could practically hear him thinking, s_urely she wasn't that crazy…stealing and selling the Ocarina of __Time__ was one thing, but actually using it? _The truth was that I was that crazy. And I knew that if he had the slightest inkling of what I was planning he'd be crazy enough to use it too.

So I began to fill him in on the plan. "There's a temple in the middle of a searing desert and in that temple there is a secret trove, a trove filled with the combined spoils of a Gerudo Dynasty that lasted a thousand years. It's called the _Lost Trove of the Desert Kings_. The problem is—as you may have guessed from the name—is that it is lost. And that desert hasn't existed for centuries. But with this Ocarina we can warp back in—"

Link cut me off. "_Stop, stop—stop right there!_ Will you just _listen_ to yourself, Tetra! Every time I think you can't get any crazier, any greedier, you do. And then again, I think you can't get any crazier, any greedier, and again you amaze me—every time. Din! Tetra, you just don't mess with some things…and time is one of them."

Again, typical Link. I don't know what I saw in him—why did I even bother? Back then I had been convinced that I needed a hero for this adventure. Now I know heroes of his sort are more trouble than they are worth. I tried a different approach. "So you know how it works then?"

Of course he did. The ocarina was only the centerpiece of the ancient legend. The Hero used it to travel through time to defeat Ganondorf. It could open the door to the sacred realm and warp the player of the ocarina from one end of Hyrule to the other faster than he could say "long-eared Hylian".

"Yeah—but I doubt the royal family intended it to be used to warp through time, stealing treasures in every epoch!"

"I _am_ the royal family," I said, throwing back her head with mock majesty, attempting a little humor that was utterly lost on him at the moment.

"You are a _member _of the royal family…and the apple has fallen very far from the tree—in the next yard I think! You've stolen a sacred artifact to increase your net worth!"

The water inside the kettle began to rattle as it warmed.

"I didn't steal it! I _intercepted_ it. Cagway was after it and I wasn't about to let him get his hands on such a _sacred artifact._ This thing could be dangerous in the wrong hands."

Good ol' Capt'n Cagway—then my only real rival left on the Great Seas. He rose to power after Ganondorf's defeat left a gaping hole in the world's menace department. He took all the leaderless monsters and made them his crew. Cagway was first-rate fool and he wasn't swift enough at hiding the ocarina from me. I thought I had dealt firmly enough with Cagway back at the Jungle Archipelago, seeing as how Gonzo had knifed right through him. But Cagway was as slippery as an eel and it wouldn't take long for him to slither back into my life and spoil my fun.

"The ocarina is no safer with you," Link said through gritted teeth. I had no idea why he was getting so upset about this. I mean, I hadn't even mentioned that I wanted him to come along with me yet.

"This adventure isn't just for gold…it's just as much for revenge as treasure," I assured him.

"Oh? On who exactly?"

"Ganondorf."

The name ringed through out the cabana. Even the rattling kettle seemed to hush momentarily. It surprised me, the effect it had on Link. His face drained of color and he gripped the counter very hard. I saw a ten-year-old terror flash in his light hazel eyes as if Ganondorf, not I, stood before him. 

"It's his treasure, Link. He was the last Gerudo king in power before the vault was sealed."

"No," he breathed.

The water in the kettle was on the verge of boiling.

"If we could just take that from him…that treasure, aside from his power, was what mattered most to him."

"No."

"If we could just get even with him…it would put him away in my mind…the both of us could be at peace…move on." My voice was getting hoarse now. I was moving toward him, reaching for his hand…

The kettle was hissing like mad now.

"NO!" he roared. "_Do you really think that would make us even? Stealing a pile of gold? N_o, I'm not coming with you. That's what you came here for, right? You need a hero to help you on this treasure hunt. Don't pretend you came here for my sake, my peace of mind! You want the treasure for your pocketbook, not to get even."

Before I could respond, the front door opened. In waddled Niko, drenched. "Begging your pardon, Capt'n, but it's started to pour and I was just wonderin' how much longer?"

Normally I would have bawled at him, but I too busy being angry with Link. Anyway, I think Niko learned his lesson to knock first after intruding in on that scene. I can just picture how it must have looked: Link's cabana in chaotic disorder, both of us panting and red-faced, and the neglected kettle whistling away furiously.

"Link and I are finished now, actually." I looked at Link and said coldly, "My offer still stands. Come, Niko."

I picked up my things and strode out of the cabana, not daring to cast another glance at Link.

It wasn't five minutes later and Niko had us rowed halfway to the ship, when Link burst through the front door of his house. From his porch he called out to us, "WAIT! I'M COMING! I'M COMING!"

"Aww, Miss, this doesn't mean I have to turn this skiff 'round and row back there to pick his sorry arse up, does it?" whined Niko.

"It seems, Niko, that Link has had a change in heart—unfortunate for you at the moment, though highly fortunate for us all in the very near future. But in the mean time, the exercise ought to do you some good."

I don't know what changed his mind in those few minutes. Something had rocked him deep down the year he saved Aryll like something had rocked him now. A combination of constant battle and the final horror of facing Ganondorf now had him forever on the edge, waiting for some nameless evil to jump out at him. Link tried to hide it with his boyish humor and goofy grins, but I could still see the trauma he had suffered lingering in his eyes. He had sailed out of Outset as a boy looking for adventure and his sister and he washed back ashore a broken man. 

I think he came with me this time to right himself.

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So how do you like the narrative from Tetra's side? I'm trying to develop a strong sense of voice for each POV. I'm hoping their character is evident through their narrative. If you could let me know how I'm doing with this in the **_reviews_** it would be greatly appreciated!


	3. N i k o

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A/N: Thanks again for the lovely reviews! You guys made my day!

Also, the bad grammar in this following chapter is entirely intentional! (Me fail English? That's unpossible! lol) It's just because Niko is telling the story now and, as he is a ragtag pirate, I thought spotless syntax might not suit him. He also uses a bit of language, hardly anything major.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Zelda. However, I'm willing to take over ownership of the franchise if Nintendo would like.

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[Niko]

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By the time I had Miss rowed back ashore Link was already halfway through packing. He had a trunk ready quick as a jiffy, crammed full of things he called "necessary" and I called "backbreaking". I offered to give him a hand, so the two of us clumsily sidestepped together down the incline to the beach, each carrying an end of the trunk.

"Sweet, sufferin' Goddesses! Link, what in hell do you got in there?" I gasped, me legs all atremble from the burden. It took me last scrap of strength to give it that final heave-ho into longboat.

"Yes, you're sure you haven't forgotten anything?" asked Miss Tetra who had strolled leisurely behind us. I hoped she wasn't serious—you never can tell with Miss.

She hopped into the longboat and Link and me gave it a shove into the calm, morning surf. We each took an oar and shared the job of rowing us back to the ship.

"Well…" grunted Link between rows, " I brought two swords…my mirror shield…Aryll's telescope…a change of underwear…the hookshot…cheese…and… the megaton hammer."

"Cheese?"

"Well, it would've gone bad if I left it home."

Miss Tetra threw back her head and laughed.

The Miss had done her own preparations for the voyage the week before. We sailed straight from the Jungle Archipelago where we had stole that pretty, little flute off Cagway to Windfall. I thought we'd gone there to sell the ocarina, but the Captain bought us supplies instead. We loaded barrels of ale and apples, boxes of nonperishables, and caches of arms and explosives into the ship's hold.

"'Tis gonna be a long voyage, isn't it, Capt'n," Gonzo had said.

And the Miss nodded, real solemn-like.

We had a rip-roarin' party that night in Windfall, stopping at our favorite pub. The locals were drove early to bed by our hoots and gallivanting nonsense. The Miss was real quiet the whole time, sipping her drink silently, not even laughing when Nudge did a jig on the table. She hadn't told us much about the coming voyage, only that we were going someplace we'd never been to. Her glowing triumph from stealing the ocarina had faded to long-faced worry. And, 'tis never a good sign when the Captain is worried.

But her sober mood soon faded after Link joined us. It was like old times again. He wasn't aboard five minutes and she was bossing him around. "Link, quit being such an idle toad and swab the deck!" or "Link, quit bothering the crew! And don't think I don't know you're making faces!" or "Link, you're tangling the shrouds! Get down from there!"

It went on like that all day long and they spent next two evenings in her cabin, discussing the coming voyage. We had turned south but she still hadn't told us nothing about her plans. I had taken to listening outside their door, seeing if I could hear anything, but they talked real quiet. So, on the third evening I snuck into the Captain's cabin to finally find out what was going on.

I couldn't find anywhere decent to hide and their footfalls were fast approaching, so I dove into the midst of a coat-rack, hiding behind Miss's trenchcoat. I heard the door open and saw Miss Tetra and Link through a small gap between an itchy sweater sleeve and the flap of a jacket. Link sat down and I couldn't see him no more. Miss Tetra was in plain view, leaning against her desk.

"So how far back in time are we going exactly?" That was Link asking the question.

"Quite far," she says vaguely, glancing out her wide cabin window at the sunset. I think she was avoiding looking at him.

"Look, if I'm going to be going with you on this treasure hunt, you better start giving me some straight answers!"

Tetra's gaze flicked back to him and she gave him a sly smile. "Alright then, I will. Tell me: how familiar are you with the Ocarina Legend?"

"Familiar enough. But what does—"

Miss cut him off. "Tell it to me. As much as you know…from the top. Then I'll answer your question."

I heard Link sigh.

"Fine. Once upon a time, there lived an unsuspecting boy in an enchanted forest. Some huge tree told him to go find Princess Zelda, whom in turn sent him on a quest to protect the Triforce. Unfortunately, the princess wasn't too bright and Ganondorf duped them into opening the door to the Triforce. This kid is too young to fight Ganondorf, so the Goddesses freeze him and the princess flees, letting Hyrule descend into darkness for seven long years…"

"Stop right there!"

My stomach leaped. She'd seen me!

"What? Why?"

The blood-red sun was setting behind her, lengthening her slender shadow until it almost reached the coat-rack. I tried to shrink back further behind her coat, but her mighty gaze had already connected to me own and I knew it was no use. I didn't know what she wanted me to do. The decent thing would've been to stumble out of that stuffy coat-rack, apologize, and accept my punishment for eavesdropping. But a queer glint in her eyes told me to stay put and listen.

"What is it," Link asked again after Tetra had said nothing for awhile. He squirmed around in his chair to have a look at what Miss was starring at. He didn't see me.

Tetra blinked and looked back to Link. "Nothing, Link. Nothing at all."

"Then why did you stop me?"

"Because…_because_ you were at the part where the hero is in enchanted slumber. We're going to steal the treasure sometime during those seven years. I don't know when precisely; time travel isn't exactly a science."

"Hold on. Correct me if I'm wrong, but are the seven years the hero is asleep not the same seven years Ganondorf is at the height of his tyrannical rule?"

"Yes," she said, sounding bewildered that that would bother him.

"Don't you think that's a tad _unwise_?" Link's voice sounded stretched.

"Well, what's the fun in stealing the treasure if Ganondorf doesn't even know it's gone?"

"What's the fun: _us not getting our heads chopped off_! Tetra, I don't have the master sword anymore. We'll be defenseless!" he cried.

Wasn't Ganondorf the monster Link and the Captain faced ten years ago? He's the one who started all that trouble with young girls going missing. Why in the world would Miss want to get into another tangle with him?

"We aren't going anywhere near him. And unlikely as it is, if we do, per chance, run into him, he won't have a reason for singling us out. He won't have met us for nearly seven-hundred years!" she says.

"Tetra, _you are Princess Zelda_! Don't you think that's enough reason for him to single us out?"

Both Miss and Link looked over at the coat-rack, which had jumped and banged against the wall. It was really me, of course, who gave a leap, on the count of that I had no idea that our Miss was a princess—and Princess Zelda to boot!

"Are you sure there's nobody there?' Link asked skeptically, frowning at the coat-rack.

"Yes, positive," snapped Tetra. It was beyond me why the Miss was hiding me. Did she want me to hear all these secrets?

"Link, Ganondorf wouldn't recognize me as a princess. For one, neither of us have a Triforce anymore. Secondly I don't look a thing like a princess and thirdly, the Zelda of the time would only be somewhere in her teens, while I'm twenty-three."

Miss Tetra a princess? Who would of though it! Sure she's beautiful enough and graceful enough, but not in a princessly sort of way. Though, then again, I'd never seen her in a dress with her hair unknotted and down. Really, I would've been less surprised if Link turned out to be a princess instead.

"Alright," sighed Link. "Well, Hyrule's a big place. What's the chance of us running into him, right?"

"Right," smiled Miss Tetra.

Link stood up from his chair and moved toward the Miss. She looked right up at him with her big blue eyes and he looked as if he were about to kiss her. _Oh Din!_ I didn't want to see that! I squeezed me eyes shut.

But she must've shoved him away because he cried out, "Hey! What gives?"

"Sorry, but you'll have to excuse me. I still have some navigational charts to attend to before the night's through. Goodnight, Link," she told him right coldly.

"Goodnight then," he replied tersely.

With my eyes still shut, I heard his heavy footfalls on the wood floor and the sound of the cabin door opening and closing. Only then did I think it safe to look.

"Come on out, Niko."

I fell out of the coat-rack with a thump, which swayed and toppled the damn thing on top of me. Fearing her wrath, I quickly stood it back up, picking up jackets that had fallen off.

"Leave it," she ordered with so much ice in her voice that it froze me. "I'm not going to punish you this time, Niko, but if this happens again, so help me Din, I will tie an anchor to your legs and tow your arse across the seafloor. Understand?"

"Absolutely, Capt'n."

"Do you have any questions?" She looked tired.

"Just the one, Capt'n," I says. "Is this voyage going to be hairy?"

"Yes. Very. But it will be worth it in the end, I promise you. Now, if that's all, please excuse me, but those charts still await."

"Yes, Capt'n. Goodnight, Capt'n."

I though it strange at the time that she didn't forbid me to tell the others about what I had heard. It only occurred to me after that she _wanted_ me to tell them. This way she didn't have to lie to them. It was going to be dangerous, no denying it. I kept the bit about her being a princess to meself; I liked knowing a secret the others didn't.

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Well, if you've read this far, you might as well give me a REVIEW. Please!

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Update soon to follow: Against Link's wishes, Aryll joins the crew next chapter!


	4. L i n k

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A/N: Thanks for all the encouraging reviews. Link's back at the helm of the story and I think he's my favorite POV. Maybe it's because his is the easiest to write. Anyway, enjoy!

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[Link]

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It was early dawn and I had myself perched in the shrouds, letting my mind wander as the new sun shone pink and gold through the breaking clouds. I could never sleep when I was out a sea. Most people find the constant rolling of the waves lulling—I sure don't. I guess it's survival instinct left over from my sailing days with the King of Red Lions. Red was a heavy sleeper; nothing could wake that guy. We could've capsized, sank, or crashed into rocks and he wouldn't have stirred one bit. I had to keep an eye open that entire quest to make sure we didn't die en route to the next troubled destination.

Hell. I missed Red. He was a grumpy, unappreciative, old fart but it neared killed me when I surfaced from Hyrule and he was just a normal boat again. I gave the skiff to Aryll; it hurt too much to sail on Red when I knew his spirit was gone.

"A rupee for your thoughts." Tetra climbed up the latticework of ropes and joined me. As the morning air was still laced with nighttime chill, she had herself wrapped up in a heavy blanket. Her hair was in the loose plait that she always wore to bed; I guessed she couldn't sleep either.

"Nah, you'd be wasting your money," I replied. I liked her during these quiet mornings. She wasn't screaming orders and there was nobody around she had to put up a false front for. "We've turned southwest."

"Yes, and…?"

"Shouldn't we be headed to Windfall for supplies?"

"Got 'em. We're headed to Outset to pick up one final crewmember and then we ship off for good." Despite her grogginess, she sounded exhilarated. Tetra and her gold—a relationship that ran deeper than any sea I had ever sailed on.

Wait! —Outset? That didn't sound good. I was right to immediately fear for my baby sister. If Tetra thought she was going to endanger Aryll on this wild treasure hunt too, she had another thing coming. "We're not brining Aryll," I told the Captain firmly.

"She's already told me she's coming. We've kept in touch through post."

"She's still a kid, for Nayru's sake!" I cried. This wasn't going to happen. Aryll was sweet—sweet and innocent and there was no way I was allowing her to put her neck on the line for some lousy pile of gold. For me it was different; I was going to settle a score.

"Aryll's seventeen now. She can make her own decisions without you telling her what to do."

No she can't, I thought. "We are not going to Outset." And that was that.

But as it turned out, that was_ not _that. It was the Captain's ship and what the Captain said went and I could only stand by, furious, as we sailed closer to my home-island. By mid-afternoon the tall, slate cliffs of Outset were in view and the tide was high enough for us to drop anchor right at the docks. Just Tetra and I went to see her, leaving to crew to collect mangos for provisions. I hadn't lost yet; I was going to talk Aryll out of coming when we saw her.

Aryll had moved out of our old house shortly after Gran died because she couldn't justify having all that space to herself. She sold it and sent me half her earnings with a note attached saying she was moving into that old watchtower where we used to play with the gulls.

I had been sure she was joking.

But today I would find out that she had been utterly serious. She had made some modifications, of course, like putting up some proper walls and constructing a treacherous-looking window box extension that I wouldn't step onto for all the courage in the Triforce. The original ladder remained and the arduous climb up it had us both panting by the time we reached the top.

Tetra knocked and Aryll called for us to "Come on in!"

Like most of the general population, Aryll was a much better housekeeper than I. Her books and papers were stacked neatly on shelves along with some odd, observational instruments. She had thrown down an elaborate rug to hide the fact that her floor was the original deck of the watchtower. The loft was dark, for the windows were few and facing away from the sun at that hour.

Aryll emerged from the back room. She gave a strange, high-pitched squeal of girlish delight and launched herself at Tetra. "YOU'RE HERE! It's great to see you! I'm packed! I'm packed! Just give me a sec and I'll be ready to go!" Aryll said all this in one breath and then, catching her wind, noticed me lurking in the shadows by the door. "Oh, Link…hi, didn't see you there." Her voice was suddenly a thousand times subdued. She released Tetra and gave me the obligatory, sisterly squeeze. She'd been distant with me ever since I moved away from Outset.

I smiled at her as she stepped back from me, back into the light streaming in from the window and I got my first good look at her in two years. Tetra was right: _Aryll was seventeen_. She was forever imprinted in my head as that frightened little girl who I had rescued ten years ago. The girl before me was a stranger. Her feathery, blonde hair had darkened into the color of autumn and she had chopped it so short she couldn't put it into her old pigtails even if she wanted to. Aryll still wore those floral-printed, summer dresses, but now big, clunky jewelry dangled from her ears and jingled on her wrists.

As Aryll began to chatter animatedly with Tetra about the coming voyage, I interjected firmly, "We've come to say goodbye." The two starred at me.

"What are you talking about," Aryll asked.

"Yes, what _are_ you talking about," echoed Tetra, sounding annoyed.

I didn't care how mad they got with me; it was time to lay down the law. "You're not coming with us. You're too young." Not the most tactful I've been, I'll admit.

I expected Tetra was the one who was going to chew me out, but it was Aryll who exploded. "_Too young_? I'm seventeen! You were twelve when you had your first adventure!"

"Yeah and I was too young then, but I had to save you! There wasn't a choice in the matter! This is completely different. Do you even know what an adventure entails? Monsters! Battles! Dungeons! Traps! Wounds! Death! _Tingle_! They're no walk in the park and whatever treasure Tetra's promised you isn't worth your life!"

"The why are you going now?" said Aryll, crossing her arms and giving me the finest example of her "You're-Not-Gran-So-You-Can't-Tell-Me-What-To-Do" look.

"To get even! After all the madness Ganondorf put me through, is it so unreasonable to want a little revenge?"

Aryll's face darkened to the same shade of red as the poppy flowers on her dress. "Well, in that self-preoccupied, fat head of yours did it ever occur to you that maybe I would want revenge _too_?"

Honestly, no it hadn't. The revelation was a stinging slap and Aryll, now in tears, pushed past me, slamming the door on her way out. I sighed, feeling like a jackass and rightfully so as I heard her thump down the ladder. I looked up from my boots to see Tetra glaring at me.

"Don't you say anything!" I warned her. That's all I wanted now; someone telling me what I already knew.

"I wasn't going to," Tetra retorted coldly, picking up Aryll's forgotten knapsack and leaving me all alone in the loft.

Din! Gran had left me in charge of looking out for Aryll and I screwed it up at every possible opportunity. How could I manage to alienate my sister every time I saw her?

The years after my quest I had thought of my own haunting troubles and the bitter injustice of having my life forever bound to consuming fate. Now it occurred to me that Aryll had faced her own horrors while being locked up at the Forsaken Fortress. Once, shortly after it was all over, I had asked about what went on during her time there. Aryll wouldn't say much, but between the shrugs and staunch aloofness, I got out of her that she had been Ganondorf's favorite.

I hadn't though about that in years but now it had me seething. But I was soon distracted from my sudden fury when I spied a candid photograph sitting on Aryll's shelf. It was of the three of us: Aryll, Gran, and me. Gran stood in the middle, giving the camera her usual, cautious but benign, smile. She had let me go when adventure called…and I was only twelve. Gran had sent me off with a shield and a hug whispering in my ear, "Keep safe, y'hear."

There was nothing for it. Aryll had every right to join us. All I could do was keep her safe along the way.

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Whew! Now that the gang is all assembled, it's time for the crew to weigh anchor and sail back through time. However, before that I'm posting a short, foreshadow-intense, chapter that breaks from the way I've been telling the story thus far. Check back sometime this weekend for that update.

Since you've read this far, you may as well drop me a **REVIEW**. Pretty please!

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Thanks for your time!

--Stellar


	5. An Interlude

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Author's Note: This chapter breaks away from the 1st person perspective I've been using thus far. There is a very good reason for this and it will be clear why around the end of this story (assuming I ever get that far, lol). Aryll's side will always be told in 3rd person, her shorter chapters set in interludes between the usual narratives. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as the previous four and let me know in the **reviews** if you think I can improve on certain aspects. Criticism (though constructive, please) is welcomed.

A thousand thanks to everybody who reviewed last time!

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Update August 21st, 2004:

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A warning and an explanation:

I gathered from some of the reviews that the relationship between Aryll and Ganondorf in this following chapter seemed to be something other than what I had consciously intended. After playing _The Wind Waker_ I was under the impression that Link and Aryll were orphaned and then I began to wonder about the profound effect the Forsaken Fortress must have had on young, impressionable Aryll and her psyche. Romance (and I share the sentiment of "Ew" lol) was the last thing I wanted to convey, instead it was Aryll's misconstrued association of Ganondorf with a fatherly figure. And, well, if you want to be Freud, you can delve into this "attachment" deeper, but some things are better left unsaid in PG-13 fics.

So if the idea of Aryll feeling anything but hate for her kidnapper makes you squeamish, skip on over to Chapter Six. : )

Thank-you again,

F.J. Stellar

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:: Anchors Almost Aweigh::

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She had ascended from her cell where the two Windfall girls forever bickered to doze in the glow of the fireplace, her head resting on his snug knee. It was only September and the Great Seas were enjoying the finest Indian Summer in years, and yet he had logs aglow in the hearth and the tall, hinged shades drawn shut.

He was from far away but she had never been sure just how far. Pretty far, she figured, and the place sounded as severe as he was. It rained once a year for a week straight, the only river swelling up the sides of its gorge. The rest of the time the sun beat down endlessly on the dunes without so much as a faint wisp in the sky. Outset had once suffered a minor arid spell lasting a few weeks and Gran's petunias had all wilted, leaving the islanders scratching their heads. She asked him if people wilted in the desert.

'The foolish and self-assured do,' he answered. 'Mostly outsiders who need to be humbled.'

Humbled. She didn't know that word. Reminded her of bumbled…like bumblebees. She half-dreamt, half-remembered the time she and Link had played tag in the buzzing sunflower garden across the way. One of the bees was disturbed by their rambunctious play and made her left cheek swell to twice the usual size. She had howled as Link helped her back to the house, close to tears himself. As Gran rubbed gingery ointment over her aching face, Link had asked fearfully is she was going to die. He was only young then and her swollen and purpled face looked like death to a boy who had just so recently lost both his parents.

'I'm allergic to humblebees,' she mumbled out of her half-doze. His deep laughter jarred her back into consciousness.

'Oh? And what of the haughty sort?'

She shifted and sat up, rubbing the drowsiness from her eyes. 'Them too,' she replied, and to her indigence, he laughed at her again.

She had never seen him fully in the light. The Forsaken Fortress was a place of many shadows and he seemed to exist as one of the vast, nighttime shapes that crept like eerie, twilight fog. Even now, in the orange glow of the evening fire she saw just one hooded eye and the age of only half his face. He was truly frightening, his voice such a rumble that she would cower to hear it raised. And yet she enjoyed his detached company just as much as he enjoyed hers.

__

'Do you miss the desert,' she asked him, busing herself with the ornate pattern of the sofa. Bands of tan, orange, and deep, indigo blue ran horizontally across the cushions with primitive figures of red. The figures were mainly people and creatures, fruit trees and birds, living in cloth and stitches. She imagined names and histories for all of them, but it was the design of a child coiled up on the ground below a searing, blood sun that held her attention the longest.

He didn't answer her, but took her little white hand in his rough, dark one and traced the patterns with her finger. 'Tan for the sand, orange for the heat, and blue for the ancient nobility of my people and the endless heavens that reign us.'

'How come the people are all red?'

He worded his response like he didn't want her to understand. 'It is the color that the desert has taken from so many.' He leant back and pulled her closer. With her cheek squashed against his chest, she glanced sadly back at the design of the child supine on the ground and recognized it as a young girl.

'She's dead, isn't she?'

'Well, that depends on you, doesn't it?'

..

Aryll didn't scream when she woke, but she was terrified just the same.

She glanced wildly around the cabin, assuring herself that she was indeed seventeen and aboard Tetra's ship, not seven and curled up in Ganondorf's lap. Aryll was slick will sweat but she felt a chill creep up from her twisted insides. Oh Goddesses, she felt ill!

Over the sound of her own, heavy breathing she heard murmured talk above deck, their low voices drifting down through the ceiling grate. The comforting groans of the rocking, wood ship eased her racing mind further and she let her head fall back down onto her pillow. Aryll's round, pale eyes remained stark and haunted though, as she questioned whether she had done the right thing by coming after all.

What if they came face to face with him? Did she want that? Her memories of the Forsaken Fortress were dim at best, but these dreams she had been having lately brought every conversation, every scene back before her eyes with startling vividness. Was it really revenge she wanted or was it a deeper, more twisted desire to see him again? No! No! No! That wasn't it at all! Aryll tossed furiously.

Aryll heard the clunk-clunk sounds of somebody coming down the stairs outside the cabin. She turned away from the door as it opened and she feigned sleep's stillness. The warm, lantern light of the hallway fell across her back and she imagined with a thrill of horror that it was Ganondorf ducking in through the threshold, not just Tetra, utterly worn and ready to drop into bed.

The two were sharing the cabin for Tetra didn't trust the crew around Aryll. Tetra's shadow, distorted along the wall, reached up and undid its hair.

"Aryll? You asleep?"

No response. She didn't want Tetra asking her why she was still wide-awake. The captain slipped into her nighttime attire without modesty and blew out her bedside candle. Tetra feel into her bed with an exhausted sigh, too tired to even shift to the most comfortable position.

"You needn't bother worrying, Aryll. He won't cause you anymore trouble." She sounded hoarse.

Aryll knew Tetra meant that whole mess with Link, but she wished that the captain was promising her the same with Ganondorf.

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A/N: I won't be posting again for a while, for I'm going away for a few weeks.

Make my day and give me a **REVIEW**! _Pretty please!_

Thanks for your time,

--_ F. J. Stellar_


	6. T e t r a

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**A/N: **I had posted this earlier, but took it down shortly thereafter because of the formatting was sloppy. Thank-you to everyone who reviewed!

**[Tetra]**

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Link finally made up with Aryll, which was good on the account that all was well and mended, but now he had his mind free to better harass me about every, tiny, inconsequential detail of our coming voyage. It was neither his place nor responsibility to fret over provisions and charts, and yet he was doing just that. The hours running up to out great departure were positively painful. He had himself twisted into such a knot with worry that his anxiousness was rubbing off on me. It was chore in itself to try an keep him occupied but the deck had been swapped twice already and there was nothing for Link to do but lump around idle and irritating.

It was our final evening on the Great Seas and if I had known it would be the last time I ever saw the sun paint the waters red, I would have shut Link up long ago. I can't remember what everybody else was up to—in all probability nothing good—but we had some time to ourselves, high in the shrouds at our usual perch. Link was quizzing me on some technicality. Good Goddesses! Frankly, I think he used to ask so many questions so he wouldn't have to just shut up and kiss me already.

"So, where in Hyrule are we going to end up when we go back in time?"

A question not without merit I supposed, but I could scarcely imagine how he could appreciate my answer.Link knew next to nothing of the geography of Hyrule—rather, he knew next to nothing about Hyrule in general. He wouldn't know a Gerudo from a Goron and the most Ancient Hylian he ever learned was a few swear words crude fishermen liked to paint on their boats. Link preferred it like that; it was his way of distancing himself from the land of fate that had ruled him these past ten years.

"The Sea of Green," I told him. "We'll be directly on top of where it used to be by tomorrow. And then it's just a matter of playing the ocarina."

He frowned. I asked him what was wrong.

"It just sounds a little vague to me. 'Sea of Green?" What's the 'Green?'"

I rolled my eyes. "It's obviously just the color of the water. "

"No, _it's not obvious just anything. _Fact is, you don't know. You've only got half a clue about this whole thing."

I had just about enough of Link and his endless worries but I was too tired to even dream of firing back. I was losing my edge around him. If he wanted to think I had a death wish for the entire crew, let him think that. I bade him goodnight through clenched teeth and dropped down to the deck just as Senza emerged from below deck to assume the night watch.

"Retiring early, Miss?"

"I think so, Senza. But I'll give you a hand lighting the lanterns before I do."

Senza was not as tall as Gonzo but just as wide, giving him a squat, sturdy bearing that was common of the dark Northerners. He kept his beard short and his shirts clean, serving as our cook and surgeon. He wasn't particularly talented at either practice, but he was reliable and knowledgeable—traits hard to find in a seaman.

Senza brought out a box of matches from his pocket and gave me a few. We worked our way up and down the ship, striking matches off the wood masts. Mako climbed down and retrieved a lantern for the crow's nest and strung several more along the sails, the warm light glowing across the vast canvases. Once the blackness of nightfall had been party alleviated Senza and I strolled to the helm.

I leant up against the rail and saw that Link was gone from the shrouds.

"Is he giving you grief, Miss?

"Who? Link?" And when he nodded I said, "Well...he's trying to. Senza...do you think I'm crazy too for doing this?"

He laughed oddly. "All I can say is that you are more and more your mother every day."

My chest swelled with pride. My mother had been a famous buccaneer, emerging from the male-dominated world of pirating to become the most successful lady pirate ever. But once we acquired the loot from the Lost Trove, not only would I surpass her as the most successful lady pirate ever, but also the most successful pirate period. I grinned.

"Of course, you mustn't forget what happened to her," he continued, deflating my newfound confidence.Thanks Senza. She had died on a treasure hunt, barely thirty, falling from the crow's nest when a cannon blast rocked the ship. I had been eight and the sight of her body bent unnaturally on the ship deck still blazed in my memory.

I scowled at him. "This is entirely different." My mother had been after a trifle—mere shavings compared to what I was about to swipe.

He didn't contradict me, but in his face I saw he didn't think so. _Was anybody with me on this?_

"Stay the course," I ordered, jerking my head towards the helm.

"Aye."

Furious, I slunk off to my quarters. Heads turned as I stomped past. Didn't they understand? The gold? The revenge? The glory? No—my crew were a simple lot, content as long as there was enough coin to pay for the next round of drinks. And I...well, I was a princess who hadn't found her kingdom. A vault of priceless treasure would have to do.

My cabin was devoid of Aryll when I got there. Thankfully. I needed the dark and solitude to think. I moved towards the vanity, my reflection emerging out of the shadows. A proper, regal nose and lips, eyes that had been passed on through the millennia, a high, alabaster brow hidden beneath the grime and sun of a pirating career. A royal heir of an ancient line, and what did I have to show for it? A ragtag crew and a wooden ship. Would the Zeldas before me have shaken their heads?

"Stay the course," I told my reflection, steeling myself in the humbling darkness of the cabin

If I had only known what I was getting myself into...

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Three years ago I traded in that useless, one-mast ship for a handsome vessel that was sleek if not ornate. Three masts are infinitely better than one and I couldn't think of a ship better suited for the quest we were about to undertake. We ran checks from bow to stern all that morning and I had the crew securing everything in sight.

At noon I declared it time and the crew assembled into a ring on the poop deck. Only on my orders would they link hands and then only begrudgingly so. Niko and Mako squabbled over whom would get to hold hands with Aryll, but Link quickly settled the dispute by placing the girl in between him and I, throwing them a nasty look.

I turned my attention to the ocarina. Polished just that morning, its surface gleamed in the midday sun, the rays seemingly charging its awesome, ancient power. I was trembling, hoping the crew couldn't tell that their captain was terrified. They were numbing their varying degrees of anxiety with a bottle passed from man to man. Link was oddly mellowed, probably he result of a sleepless night. And Aryll, she appeared ill.

My stomach made a jump for my throat. _Oh Goddesses_, I thought. _Here we go_.

I closed my eyes and brought the Ocarina of Time to my lips. The last, solemn notes of the Song of Time had faded before I realized that I had begun to play. The instructions in the text had been concise: _Play song. Touch item(s) or person(s) wished to be brought along. Wait._

I braced myself for a spectacular jolt as we were about to be thrown back through the ages. Nothing of the sort came and after several minutes with teeth gritted and eyes scrunched shut, I relaxed my face and took what was supposed to be my first look at Hyrule.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, had changed.

Stunned, I glanced around. Everybody else appeared to have the same question on their mind as I did: _what the hell was going on? _I don't know what I expected to happen, but it sure wasn't this.

They were all looking at me now, wanting to know what had happened when I had nothing to tell them. I stepped back from the ring. All my planning, all my preparations...and nothing. We bobbed, stationary by the anchors, as if nothing out of the ordinary had transpired. And then I though, nothing out of the ordinary _had_ transpired—I had just played a fake ocarina and the notes issuing forth held no power whatsoever.

The disappointment burned like acid in my throat. I hurled the ocarina at the deck, and when it didn't shatter it only vexed me more. I stormed off toward the mainmast ladder.

"Capt'n?" Gonzo began, sounding concerned. It was considerably brave of him to ask, for he knows how I am when I'm in one of my tempers.

I whirled around, but stopped myself from barking at them. It was my fault anyway. "Everyone," I began ina low, terse voice. "...is too return to their usual posts. There are no further orders."

Numb, I climbed to the lookout with their quiet murmurs of dismay buzzing in my ears. Had I been duped—no, Cagway wasn't smart enough to pull a trick like that. And if he _did_, well, he'd better thank his stars that he was already dead. The how...how after all my work had I ended up with a dud ocarina. I was Princess Zelda! I had a birthright to the damn thing!

Reaching the crow's nest, I sat on the floor. As for a conclusion as to how I failed, I drew a blank. I sighed.

A noise, one stranger that the one Gonzo emitted when he accidentally drove that nail through his thumb, jostled me out of my bitter musings. It was a kind of backward screech. I peered over the rail and the sight that met my eyes put my dilemma to the backburner.

It was a seagull, climbing out of its dive in the most peculiar fashion. Backwards. At first it appeared to be frozen in mid-flight, but, with a painfully drawn-out flap of its wing, it ascended tail first, dropping its catch back into the water. It looked almost as if it were..._no_...

_Yes!_

"Yeeeehahaha!"

And with that crazed cry of delight I leapt from the crow's nest and swung to the deck below on a loose length of rope. Not even the rough impact of my boots on the deck, which sent me stumbling, could jar me out of my ecstasy.

"It worked! It worked! The ocarina worked!"

The crew, plus Link and Aryll, came rushing towards me like I had just suffered an injury. They clustered around in a tight knot, faces creased with worry. I couldn't imagine what on the Great Sea could be the matter at a time like this—hadn't they heard? _It worked! _

Gonzo grimaced. "Capt'n, ye alright? Ye haven't a concussion of some sort, have ye?" He reached out to feel if I had a temperature, but I ducked under his arm and pushed away.

"No, no...are you deaf? I said, _the ocarina worked_! We are traveling back in time as we speak!"

They looked at me like I was completely off my rocker. Looking back, I can't blame them.

"The sheer disappointment seems to have rattled her brain," Link muttered blankly.

I dove for the ocarina that I had discarded so carelessly earlier. _Oh, thank-you! Oh, thank-you._ I'm not sure, but I may have thanked the instrument aloud. I admit it; the excitement was getting the better of me.

"Let's get her below deck and let her sleep off that bump to the head," I heard someone say.

"What bump?" I snapped. I needed to prove to them that I was sane or they would lock me downstairs with a cold cloth and some tonic. I glanced around frantically for a way. Of course—_the sun_: nature's natural clock.

"Wait," I cried, pushing Link whom was attempting to steer me towards the door. "Give it an hour or so. Watch the sun; it's our best sign of the flow of time."

"Capt'n..." began Niko, doubtlessly trying to reason me into lying down. He stopped short when I rounded on him.

"You're right, Niko. I _am_ the Captain. And on this ship what I say _goes._"

He stumbled back from me in disbelief. It was a rare thing for me to use my authority so brutishly, but I had no other choice. My words were words to evoke a mutiny. I saw resentment and doubt in all their eyes—two things that scares a captain more than any sea monster or sea storm. Their faces were set like stone. I felt a chill extinguishing my previous joy.

This would not be the first time on our journey that the crew would come to doubt their captain. It was only early in the game and many more times after would I feel their unsettling, untrusting gaze until even I began to doubt myself.

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**REVIEW! **_Pretty Please!_


	7. L i n k

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Author's Note: It took me so long to update this time, honestly, because of lack of interest—on my part and concerning reviews. With school started this fic fell way back onto the backburner. Sorry—lol.

But I couldn't give this fic up! It's way too much fun to write to just drop, so I'm going to try and continue with it. I'd like to thank those who did R&R last time!

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Link

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It was truly the calm before the storm.

But not in it's usual, natural sense. We were not to experience the weather of that afternoon, but the elements of yesterday and the days, months, and, yes, _years_ before that. Just beyond the ship, unimagined forces were at work, imperceptible at first, then finally awesome The blue sky stretched endless overhead and the midday hour never lasted so long, though according to Niko's watch and the shifting shadows, it past by twenty minutes quicker than usual.

Tetra's convictions had yet to be proven. The grinding halt of time had brought a silence we mistook as a dead breeze and an absence of crackling sails. Those vast canvases had been secured on the Captain's orders, and the ship looked almost skeletal without them. She paced the deck, only her footfalls breaking the quiet, eyes like a tiger, searching for any tangible evidence to prove her right and the rest of us wrong.

Aryll and I were watching the Captain from the corner, pretending to be occupied in a game of chess, scarcely watching where we slid our pieces. We took turns stealing sidelong glances at Tetra, missing chances at checkmates, all the while attempting to assess her state of mind.

"Hey, you see that?" Aryll muttered, squinting out at the ocean.

"No…what?"

She squinted harder, twisting her face. "Can I see my telescope."

"_Your _telescope?" After ten years, you'd think Aryll would have relinquished ownership. It's not that I had intended on keeping it, I just never got around to returning it.

Aryll shot me a dark look. "Yes, _my_ telescope. Can I see it?"

Reluctantly, I drew the old telescope out of my bag and tossed it over.

"Thank-you," she said, not meaning it. Aryll scanned the horizon. "I knew it! It's Beedle…way out there. Here, look." Aryll handed the telescope back over.

I extended it with a swift snap and found myself focusing in on a rickety sampan, hazy in the distance. No mistaking it—it was Beedle, the bait salesman who sailed from one end of the sea hocking junk to the other.

"He's going pretty fast," said Aryll.

I frowned. I could scarcely believe what I was seeing. "He's going _backwards_! Holy—"

Tetra's sharp whistle cut off any further exclamations of mine. The crew left their positions in a scurry and gathered 'round on her orders. Aryll jumped to see what all the fuss was over, while I lagged behind, skeptical, with my hands drove into my trouser pockets.

I peered over Mako's head and saw Tetra and Gonzo squatting next to a barrel.

"Tell me, what exactly would you call this?" Tetra had her finger pointed at the dark sliver of deck next to the barrel.

Gonzo appeared puzzled. "Uhh…I would call it a shadow, Miss."

If Tetra heard the muffled guffaws of the crewmembers, it, strangely, didn't bother her. She rose and straightened, replying, "I would call proof." She smiled her smug, superior smile. "Firstly, Niko, the time?"

"12:40, Miss."

Still smiling, she arched a brow and glanced up at the sun. "Awful low in the sky for twenty to one—I would say it looks more like one o'clock exactly…_which_, brings me to my reason for gathering you all here." She raised her voice, and continued crisply, " Gonzo! You've been endowed with an innate sense of direction! Tell me, which way is East."

Gonzo was the ship's human compass. He had guided the ship back on course innumerous times, proving himself more reliable and even more accurate than any magnetic compass. I had never heard tell of him erring in his guidance.

He immediately pointed off the starboard side of the ship. " Tha' way, Miss."

"Sure?"

__

Ohh—did I ever hate that smile of hers!

"Positive, Miss!"

"Wrong," Tetra said simply, causing gasps of disbelief throughout the small crowd. Gonzo looked partly angered, partly bewildered at Tetra's contradiction. "And I'll tell you why. If that is indeed East, and it is indeed 12:40, _why would the sun be heading in that direction_? The sun sets in the West. The shadows are lengthening westward, if that is any more proof as to direction of the sun's eastward descent—and at an alarming rate, wouldn't you say?"

It was true! The shadow had grown half a foot while our attention had been drawn by Tetra's short speech. I recalled Beedle's sampan racing by, stern-first. The only explanation was…

Tetra said it before I dared think it.

"Now, I'd hate to doubt your historically astounding navigational abilities, Gonzo, but if you are correct, the only other explanation that comes to mind is that the ocarina is, perhaps, _working_."

The crew didn't have time to exchange murmurs of doubt, for the shadows of the ship were lengthening before our very eyes across the deck. As the afternoon sun sank towards the morning horizon, I could see Tetra's smile broaden and feel my stomach clench. When the sun set in the East many hours too soon she had the crew won over. Her success never looked so pretty; the sky was on fire.

Night fell, but we didn't even half the lanterns lit when the sun reappeared, glorious, on the wrong horizon. Clouds grew and shrank in minutes and I felt rain fall for about a heartbeat.

Nighttime again. Daylight in seconds.

Days and nights were rewinding so fast now that it was dizzying and the sky overhead became a flickering indigo. The moon waxed and waned again and again, leaping across the sky. The starry map of the heavens rotated as the seasons passed in reverse. And then, even the stars themselves, things I was certain remained forever constant, changed. Some appeared out of nothing and others faded back into the blackness of space. The constellation "_Kipper_" was rearranged and Nayru's pitcher of water vanished from her celestial hands.

But it was the arrangement of stars "_Evren_" that caught my wonder. "_Evren_" meant courage in Ancient Hylian and supposedly represented the Hero of Time. Many times had Tetra pointed out where the head was supposed to be and where the sword began, but I could never make heads or tales of it. It took more imagination that I had to discern a hero out of twelve points of light. But now, before my very eyes, stars brightened out of the cosmic abyss and formed the obvious outline of a proud, noble hero.

"Link!" Aryll's voice shook me out of my reverie. She pointed and I looked.

Thick, silvery mists were rising up from the ocean, engulfing the ship until we were drifting on fog instead of sea. The legendary downpour that drowned Hyrule reversed and the Great Sea evaporated back into the clouds. I'm not exactly sure when the ocean below us vanished entirely, but I felt its absence greatly. The smell of salt left the air and the sensation of floating on air made me squeamish. Time was slowing down now, halting gradually its extraordinary reverse.

It was when the clouds broke and vanished below us that I knew we were in trouble.

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I think this is my first cliffhanger. Tee-Hee!

Please Review! __

Thanks for your time!

--F. J. Stellar


	8. G o n z o

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Author's Note: _Woohoo_—I finally finished this chapter! I'm not even going to bother making excuses as to why this took so long…lol. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time!!

This here is another chapter written from the viewpoint of a pirate who has not completely mastered the English language. I hope the usage of incorrect and inconsistent tense isn't frustrating for you. Enjoy!

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Gonzo

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Once when I was a young'n, I climbed to the highest point of the island where a short cliff dropped sheer into the ocean and the waters below were deep enough that you could dive in without cracking your head open on a rock. I remembers just peering over the edge and shivering all down to me boots. Me mates was treading water some forty feet below, shouting up at me to just jump, to take the plunge, and prove meself no coward.

When had I, Gonzo Fowler, been afraid of anything.

So, I launches meself with a run, and I was flying—no—soaring for instant, arms spread eagle and screaming at the top of me lungs. I didn't think I would ever fall, but suddenly there was the surface of the water rushing right up at me and me voice died right there in me throat.

I heard me own body give a horrible crack as I smacked the water's surface, feeling the sting of a cat o'nine. Me whole front bruised purple and never again did any child try a belly flop off that particular cliff.

Now, I was never one with numbers, but I could equate that the higher you fall from, the more the impact smarts. And if Miss Tetra was right—and she had been right all that day—we was aloft in the highest atmosphere of the Old Kingdom, just about where sea level was—uh—_is_ in the present. So, that's quite the distance and I wagered we'd suffer a great deal more than a bruised front when, slowly the clouds parted and slowly, we began to fall.

It was that same sensation you get sometimes when the ship's rolling on whitecaps. You know, that feeling like your gut's trying to make an escape through your throat. Tetra shrieking at us to attach our lifelines to the main mast, except for Link and Niko whom she recruited to help release the mainsail. Apparently, she had herself a plan.

Never one to sit back and enjoy the ride, I comes clamoring up the mainmast ladder and started struggling with the rigging too, tugging with those blessed fasteners that, of all times, chose now to be stubborn little friggers.

We was falling faster now, plummeting to our deaths like an anchor through water. The air was a-howling.

So, "JUST CUT THEM LOOSE," bellows Miss Tetra, pulling her dagger from her sash. She starts hacking away at the ropes, motioning for the rest of us to do the same.

Seconds later, the mainsail is released like a great, billowing cloud, followed by the other, lesser sails, and all at once the ship looks like she were prepared to cast off from port. Tetra is screaming at us again—this time to get back to the deck, and she follows, in her own fashion, somersaulting off a length of rope.

As Mako put it, she landed there in the bow of her ship, arms spread wide the glorious horror she had incurred, roaring at the Wind Waker to summon the greatest updraft Hyrule had ever seen. And, in my opinion, that's just a fancy way of saying Tetra ordered Link to get us out of this fantastic mess.

And, by the Goddesses, the kid pulled it off.

So, he whips out that silvery do-dad of his, swings it 'round his head and pointed it aloft. There comes a rush of air that sends people's hats flying and the rigging snaps as the sails are hit with a brick wall of atmosphere. I cringes as I watch the cables break, though it was a choice few, and the sails balloon upwards, acting like enormous parachutes, halting our fall to hell into a merry drift on a summer's breeze. Simply astounding!

Stunts like that there will make Miss Tetra famous.

And then, all of us collapse, pulses hammering in our chests, thanking the divine. And Miss Tetra just strode to the helm, pleased as punch, as though falling through a thousand feet of sky were nothing out of the ordinary.

Link and me, still, both shaken but trying not to show it, took a stroll to the edge of the ship and peered down. Tetra had told us a "Sea of Green" would be stretching out in all directions below us, but whatever it was below sure was green, but it didn't look like any sea I'd ever encountered. I would guess we was about a quarter of a mile from the surface at that particular point in time, and Link and me could make out little square boats that to me looked more like houses, but I told meself that couldn't be.

"What are those, mountains?"

Like a whole range of Dragon Roosts times ten, a chain of tremendous mountains rises sharply at the northern horizon, the highest of them belching a tall plume of queer-looking smoke. It looks like several towns was built on the foothills, the surrounding farms spilling out onto the green "water". The ship's drifting further and further from them and our view of all of this is shrinking as the ship sinking gradually lower and lower.

So, I looks down below again. "That ain't water," I finally declares.

"Yes, it is," says Link.

"No, it ain't. Look, there's not a wave to be seen down there. Some queer "sea" if you're asking ask me."

"What else could be that big and flat," he argues. The kid was frowning at me notion.

So I tells him, "I'm going to have a word about it with the Captain any how."

"Nice knowing ya!" He's such a pompous twit, ain't he?

I makes me way up to the poop deck. Tetra was concentrating real hard on the helm and didn't even glance me way, only snarling, "Yes, Gonzo? What is it?" as I came near.

I removes me hat solemnly. "Miss Tetra, begging your pardon, but I think that "Sea of Green" down there ain't no sea of the ordinary sort."

"Don't be ridiculous," she said, spinning the helm roughly. "All the texts agreed upon the name. The water just happens to be a particularly vivid shade of green."

I gives her a grunt.

Her eyes flashed in my direction. "Well, if it isn't a sea, what would be your proposition, Gonzo. Dry land?" I gives me head a dawdling nod, and the Miss makes a little noise in the back of her throat. " Well, we're in for a rough landing then, aren't we? I'd hold on extra tight if I were you."

There came a high whistle from aloft. Mako peeped over the edge of the lookout and called down, " Miss! We're approaching the surface. I'm estimating three minutes to touchdown."

"Aye, Mako!"

I knows from experience to cover me ears and step back when the Captain starts bellowing her orders…

"YOU HEARD THE MAN! I WANT EVERYONE ATTACHED TO THEIR LIFELINES ON THE DOUBLE! QUICKLY NOW, QUICKLY!"

People were sent scrambling toward the mainmast, some clamoring down the shrouds, others bursting out through cabin doors. Each groped like mad for their respective lifelines, lengths of lassoed rope that you rung 'round your body and tightened to keep yourself fastened to the ship. Miss and me remains at the helm until she demands that I too get meself tied into a lifeline.

"But, what about you, Miss?"

"Well, someone's got to land this ship." She winked. "ALRIGHT GENTS, KEEP YOUR HATS ON. WE'RE GOING DOWN!" She threw the helm spinning starboard.

So, I find meself a lifeline and crouch next to little Aryll and Niko and braces meself, praying that I was dead wrong about the Sea of Green being a sea of solid ground.

I was wishing for a mighty _splash_ and a spray of seawater, but what comes is a shuddering _crunch _as the stern makes landfall first, followed by the bow, which drops forward down a slope with the sound of planks splintering to pieces. We had landed with such force that it sent us sailing unnaturally across _terra firma_, tearing the keel of our ship to bits. What stops us was a gentle hill that rose up sharply off the port bow, sending the massive bulk of the ship crashing down on its side.

I wasn't sure if it was my body or the mast I heard crack. Between the screams and the crunch of timber, the ruckus was real awful. The sails lost their air and drop like a huge blanket over us all, and then we soon finds ourselves entangled in the canvas, dangling like little pieces of bait from our lifelines. All I was seeing was the dirty white of the sails and all I was thinking was "Miss Tetra, Miss Tetra!"

Miss Tetra. She had said no to a lifeline and I could only imagine where her tiny body had been thrown to. It would be a miracle if she had survived. Oh, the blessed Goddesses!

I manages to cut through me constraints of rope and rumpling canvas and falls down, landing with a smarting arse on the ground. I sees the kid, and he's rubbing his noggin—I'm guessing 'cause he must've given it a nasty bump somewhere along the line.

"Have ye seen the Miss," I asks him.

He looks at me woozily; he must've been seeing stars. "No…didn't she tie herself in like the rest of us?"

I'm looking frantic around for her. "No…she refused. She at helm when we crashed." I rushes off, bellowing, "MISS TETRA!" again and again.

I hears Link muttering a curse, struck dumb with horror, and he stumbles after me, shouting the Captain's name too.

We're not even thinking about being in Ancient Hyrule, about the endless grass, the smashed ship. Tetra, and Tetra only, is the sole thing on our minds and we race together up a small rise, teach of us more distressed than the other,

He stops suddenly at the top and a moment later I sees why.

There's Tetra, sprawled out supine on the ground.

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What you just read is grossly impossible in regards to the laws of physics. Please, before you review, bear in mind that I am well aware of the preposterousness of a 17th century wooded ship that could plummet miles through the air and land unscathed (well, relativity so) on solid ground, using sails as makeshift parachutes to slow their fall. That said, please do **_REVIEW_**--as you know, it would positively make my day! J

Until next time,

Cheers!


	9. L i n k

**Author's Note:** Okay, so the first little portion of this chapter is a 3rd person perspective flashback that should make sense if you've played OoT. Now that Tetra is back in the land of her ancestors, she starts to get these premonitions/ memories that belong to the original Zelda.

I know you guys have been waiting for it—there's finally some Link/Tetra action in this chapter. Woot! So, here, read—it's a gift from me to you. LOL!

_

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The nursemaid, a tall, tawny woman, quickly ushered the child princess into her bedroom and locked the door, jamming the knob with a desk chair. Satisfied it would hold, she then rounded on the child. "Quick, Princess, where did you put it?"_

The child became suddenly confused with all the panic. Her lips were trembling. "Oh, oh…I don't know, I hid it…someplace…" She burst into tears.

Sharply, the nursemaid told her to hush and began to root madly through drawers, tearing through garments and trinkets. "Where? Princess, where?"

"I don't know", the child wailed again, sinking into a pile.

A knock to the door.

"Your Highness?" It was a member of the Royal Guard. He sounded genuinely concerned.

"Don't make a sound," mouthed the nursemaid. She crossed the room quietly and peered under the bed as another knock, this time more forceful, came.

"Your highness? Is everything alright?"

The nursemaid shot her a warning look. Not a word!_ The child bit her lip. _

The jammed knob was being tried. "Your highness? Open the door!"

The child watched as the nursemaid ignored the summons. Ripping the bedding from the expansive mattress, the nursemaid again found nothing. Her search grew more frantic. She threw an ancient armoire open and tore through its contents. "Din! Princess, where is it?"

Not a word!

"Your highness, is that you? Your highness, we know you're in there! Open the door, we--" A low, familiar voice interjected, rumbling a suggestion to the guard. "—The King wishes an audience with you."

The child cried out, covering her ears as fists began to hammer down on the door. She heard a scuffle outside. The guard must have been shoved aside for new, more powerful pounds replaced the guard's, raining down in a terrifying, deliberate rhythm, splintering the wood to bits.

The nursemaid, in their final moments before the door gave way, found for what she searched and pressed the Ocarina of Time into the princess's hands. "Go! Get out of here!" the nursemaid shrieked, hauling the child up roughly by the arm, rushing her towards the other end of the bedroom. "Hurry!" The nursemaid pulled back a wall hanging, revealing the winding, secret passageway to safety.

The child tarried for an instant, transfixed as a huge fist broke a hole right through the door, then slowly reached in, reached for the knob…

"GO! GO! I'll find you later! Hurry, while you still can! Go, Princess! GO!" cried the nursemaid, pushing the child into the passageway. The wall hanging fell back in place over the doorway and the child found herself alone, stumbling in the darkness for the way out.

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Link

Tetra lay there at the crest of a grassy slope, still and bent, one hand over her heart as if a coroner had fixed it there. At first, as I dropped to my knees and moved over her, I was relieved to see that her eyes were wide open. But as I came close I saw that they were glassy and unmoving, starring blankly ahead. I waved a hand over her face; she did not blink.

"Tetra…?"

She was so still.

I was dimly aware of Gonzo muttering something and even less conscious of the tears now running down my face. With a low moan, I let my head lower onto her chest and all at once was overcome. I was so upset that when her body gave a sudden jerk below me, I thought it was one of my own, trembling sobs. I didn't notice a slender hand trail up my arm and neck, a finger twirl my hair. It was only when a voice, muffled in my shirt, muttered, "No need for tears…you know, the countryside isn't half that bad," that I was stirred out of my grief.

I leapt off of her. Was she alive or was I hearing things? "Tetra…?"

There she was, alive, eyes bright and smiling lopsidedly. Slowly, she sat up, pushing away any assistance of mine. "Bugger off, will you! I'm fine!"

I starred at her incredulously. "You're alive!"

Tetra absently dusted off her blouse and vest. "So it appears." She glanced back up at me and her smile widened.

Right then we started in on one of those passionate kisses you read about in those trashy, little novels Beedle sells sometimes—not that I've ever read one of course, but I'd wager you could write quite the paragraph on this particular smooch. So we're kissing and kissing, and would have kept right on at it if Gonzo hadn't unfortunately interrupted with a curt, guttural "_Ahem_".

We broke apart and looked sheepishly at him.

Tetra laughed. "Sorry, Gonzo, forgot you were there."

He must've looked more mortified than I did. "Well…thanks be to the Goddesses you're alive…but I…I'm gonna wait down at the ship with the others. You…you two come down when…when you're ready." Gonzo fled, crimson red.

It was only when Gonzo disappeared down the hill and we were alone that the full implications of what Tetra had done dawned on me. "You did that on purpose, didn't you!"

"Did what?"

"Fake dead!" I snarled.

"_Fake dead?_ When?" Tetra was playing me again; she put on a slack, astonished expression.

"Just then! It wasn't one bit funny, you know! You, still as stone with your eyes all glassy and strange. Did it even cross your mind that your little act might be just a little upsetting?" My embarrassed flush had heated to the scarlet of fury.

Tetra staggered up after me, following as I stormed off. "You really were upset, weren't you? Link, _wait!_ I swear I wasn't faking dead!" She had switched back to her normal voice, realizing I was serious.

"_Oh yeah?_ Then what were you doing?"

"Well…I…" She faltered, and, looking suddenly faint, sat back down in the grass. I squatted down next to her, momentarily forgetting my anger.

"Go on," I urged her softly.

"I don't know; it was curious. Real curious. I remembering getting tossed out of the ship and I must've given my head a good crack…a concussion or something like that, I suppose. I was out cold and I found myself in this unnerving, little reverie...funny really…must've been a bit of lunch that didn't agree with me. There was a young princess and her nurse, and they were searching…searching for something. Someone was at the door, banging…and they, for the life of them, couldn't find it."

"Find what, Tetra?"

She looked for moment confused, as though she had completely forgotten, but then she reached into her vest pocket and drew out the Ocarina of Time. "This."

We exchanged uncomprehending glances, but we were both certain this was more than a bit of disagreeable lunch. She and I sat there for awhile in silence with the ocarina. My thoughts began to wander after a few minutes and noticed what used to be the ship some distance below. From our vantage on the slight hill, I could see the others emerging from the wreck. I glanced at Tetra. She was absorbed in the instrument on her lap, feeling it's smooth surface over with her hands.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Hmmm," was all Tetra said, which I supposed was in agreement, for she got up, once again refusing a hand from me. She led the way down the hill, lips pursed, mind racing.

We were halfway there, when she, out of the blue, stopped into her tracks and grabbed my arm. "Link," she said to me, "we're in Hyrule."

I stopped too. I knew that; I knew where were in Hyrule. But, in all the chaos of the crash, in all my worry over Tetra, it hadn't completely dawned on me. Suddenly, the air no longer tasted of sea salt. Suddenly, the cool, damp, maritime winds were arid. Suddenly, the crash of waves was lost from the sounds of the world and suddenly I was in Hyrule.

Hyrule. The land of the legends, the land of our ancestors, the land of Ganondorf and the King.

And we were there.

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